Nuke the board? There's a reason this is the first comment I've left in a very long time. This site is really about Brian, his staff, and the guys in the diaries that can do things with numbers and words that deserve to be shared.

I'll second Scalzi's Old Man's War series. Wonderfully fun writer, lot's of nerdy physics nuggets, great characters. 3 books in the series (Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colonoy) and a fourth stand alone novel, Zoe's Tale that is essentially The Last Colony told from a different character's perspective. Scalzi also has a new book out Redshirts that I haven't picked up yet but plan to.